The ****trait of an Self-Indulgent and Intoxicated "Olympic Host" -- Got
a Mint, Comrade? Chinese Ban Liquid Lunch
The New York Times
March 8, 2008
Got a Mint, Comrade? Chinese Ban Liquid Lunch
By JIM YARDLEY
XINYANG, China ¡ª Li Bin, a barrel-chested retiree on special assignment
for this city¡¯s Communist Party boss, strode down an empty hallway of
the Xinyang Middle Court in search of bureaucrats. He rattled locked
doorknobs and barged into offices without knocking. A court officer
retreated in red-faced terror.
The booze squad had arrived.
¡°Blow,¡± ordered one of Mr. Li¡¯s young subordinates a few minutes later
as he pressed an alcohol monitor to the lips of a nervous Communist
Party functionary.
The target of Mr. Li¡¯s midafternoon sting last week was not just tipsy
cadres but a ritual that many Communist Party officials have long
considered a part of their job description: the hours-long,
alcohol-soaked midday banquet (usually paid for with public money). For
the past year, Mr. Li and other investigators have swooped into
government offices in this grimy city of seven million people to catch
civil servants partaking of the liquid lunch. One violator was fired on
the spot.
With Beijing trying to rein in official corruption, the campaign in
Xinyang, in Henan Province, might seem like comic relief. But public
disgust with official privilege is so palpable that the campaign has
attracted national attention, spawned imitators in other cities and
offered a tantalizing hint at how much China¡¯s liquor industry profits
from the thirst of Communist Party officials.
Wang Tie, the Xinyang Communist Party chief and architect of the
crackdown, estimated that the policy saved his government almost $6
million in six months. Local restaurants have re****ted sharp drops in
profits. Last month, the Henan Alcoholic Drink Industry Association, a
trade group alarmed at losing its best customers, challenged the policy
as a violation of the legal rights of civil servants.
¡°The country¡¯s Civil Servant Law doesn¡¯t require civil servants to
refrain from drinking during their lunchtime,¡± argued Kang Yinzhong, a
lawyer for the trade group, according to state media. ¡°Drink or not, it
is the civil servant¡¯s right. Public power has no legal ground to
interfere in a civil servant¡¯s life if he or she doesn¡¯t mess up their
afternoon work.¡±
Mr. Wang, the party chief, said the policy could withstand any
challenges, and he proudly provided a positive editorial from People¡¯s
Daily, the Communist Party¡¯s authoritative newspaper. ¡°Everyone knows
there is a problem in China with cadres eating and drinking on public
funds,¡± Mr. Wang said. ¡°It¡¯s a big problem, and to deal with corruption
you¡¯ve got to start with issues like this.¡±
Mr. Wang, who is getting fan mail, added, ¡°We wanted the cadres to have
energy for work.¡± Indeed, service is not always a priority for
government workers after a few hours of slugging down shots.
¡°Sometimes you¡¯ll go to the civil affairs bureau after lunch and they
are sleeping or playing cards,¡± said one Xinyang taxi driver. ¡°Sometimes
you can¡¯t even find anyone.¡±
Drinking on the job is hardly unique to China, but ritualized drinking
is deeply ingrained in China¡¯s business culture. Restaurants usually
offer private banquet rooms, some with lounge areas, flat-screen
televisions and private bathrooms. Tables are often set with specific
gl***** for beer, wine or baijiu, the fiery Chinese liquor that
lubricates nearly every banqueting experience.
A banquet is considered a mandatory exercise for welcoming guests on
official business. Hosts will lose face if a guest is perceived to be
uncomfortable or having less than a jolly time. By this same logic, one
way to ensure good feelings and build rap****t is for everyone to drink.
And, often, drink very heavily.
¡°It¡¯s like a form of communication between people,¡± offered Zhu
Xiaojun,
general manager of Jigongshan Baijiu, a distillery in Xinyang. ¡°It would
be disrespectful to not drink with a guest.¡±
Many of the growing number of foreign business executives in China would
probably welcome some disrespect. Baijiu is distilled from sorghum and
other grains, has the clarity of vodka or gin but contains far higher
alcohol levels than most spirits. It is served in shots and its taste
has been compared with rubbing alcohol or diesel fuel. Toasting is
customary and can sometimes take on the bonhomie of hazing.
¡°When there are six people and you see three bottles of baijiu waiting
on the buffet table, start eating and start eating fast,¡± said one
American businessmen in describing his survival strategy. He said he
once faced baijiu at consecutive banquets for lunch, dinner and breakfast.
Banquet war stories are legion. Tim Clissold, author of ¡°Mr. China,¡± a
memoir about doing business in China, described an evening banquet with
a Chinese mayor that featured course after course of exotic food: cow¡¯s
lung soaked in chili sauce, goose stomachs, fish lips with celery,
goat¡¯s feet tendons in wheat noodles, ox forehead, turtle casserole and,
finally, deer¡¯s *****. Round after round of baijiu toasts followed until
the banquet ended and Mr. Clissold staggered from the table.
¡°I¡¯ve never met anybody, even at the heights of alcoholic derangement,
prepared to admit that they actually liked the taste,¡± Mr. Clissold
wrote of baijiu. ¡°After drinking it, most people screw up their faces in
an involuntary expression of pain and some even yell out.¡±
Baijiu does usually enliven conversation. In 1974, Henry Kissinger
played host in New York to Deng Xiaoping and commented on the powers of
Maotai, the most famous brand of baijiu.
¡°I think if we drink enough Maotai we can solve anything,¡± Mr. Kissinger
said.
¡°Then when I go back to China, I must increase production of it,¡± Mr.
Deng responded.
Today, baijiu remains a major player in China¡¯s alcohol market, but
nationwide production has steadily declined as rising prosperity has
brought more alcoholic choices, like wines, beers and other spirits. A
younger generation of business executives in cities like Beijing and
Shanghai is more likely to eschew baijiu. Many prefer the golf course to
the banquet table as a setting for doing business.
At the Jigongshan Baijiu distillery in Xinyang, Mr. Zhu said baijiu was
a tough business with more and more brands competing for a slowly
declining number of customers. He estimated that the Xinyang crackdown
had cost him about 20 percent of his sales. Mr. Zhu described officials
as an im****tant segment of his customer base but remained hopeful.
¡°Most people can adjust their drinking to drink more at night,¡± he
suggested. ¡°Maybe two bottles instead of one. Or they can drink more on
the weekends.¡±
Mr. Wang believes that his crackdown will not just save money and
improve work performance but also liberate government officials from
unwanted cultural expectations. He said many bureaucrats considered
lunchtime drinking an onerous obligation. ¡°A lot of people agree with
the decision,¡± said one city official, Mr. ****, who refused to provide
his full name. ¡°They felt obligated to drink at these lunches. If they
didn¡¯t, they would be accused of not treating their guests warmly.
¡°But,¡± he added, ¡°it was tiring.¡±
Meanwhile, the inebriation inspections have become news media
sensations. Three special alcohol SWAT teams make random checks on the
city¡¯s 120,000 officials and civil servants. Offenders are usually
reprimanded or shamed by accounts in local newspapers and television
re****ts. In January, a re****ter from China¡¯s state television network,
CCTV, followed Mr. Li¡¯s team and filmed him catching an inebriated
ranking official. Mr. Li fired him.
Last week, Mr. Li, 60, took a re****ter from The New York Times on a
surprise visit to the Middle Court and the city¡¯s construction
commission. He said violators were quick with excuses: a good friend in
town; a special family occasion; even a shot or two on doctor¡¯s orders.
¡°I say, ¡®We don¡¯t care,¡¯ ¡± Mr. Li said.
At the construction commission, a startled secretary said, ¡°Who are
you?¡± when Mr. Li¡¯s team burst into one office. At the Middle Court,
several offices were locked and empty, leaving open the possibility that
their inhabitants were off drinking and not planning to return.
At the end of the day, Mr. Li¡¯s team tested about 20 cadres and nary a
one tested positive. He made only one exception when a roomful of older
men shooed him away.
¡°We¡¯re old bosses,¡± one of them said, explaining why they were not
subjected to the test. ¡°We¡¯re retired.¡±
Huang Yuanxi contributed research from Beijing.
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